


Of Invisible Wives and Trists Implied

by MilesOfWords



Category: Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare
Genre: Closeted Relationship, Continuation of Act One/Scene One, Discussion of Open Relationship, Discussion of sex-positive behaviour, F/F, F/M, M/M, Modern Setting, Screenplay/Script Format, discussion of sexuality, play format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 04:36:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14488962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilesOfWords/pseuds/MilesOfWords
Summary: Having heard Beatrice's overwrought reception of Benedick's return, Innogen takes her niece aside to bring some previously unrecognised truths to light.





	Of Invisible Wives and Trists Implied

Much Ado about Nothing  
Continuation of Act 1, Scene 1  
Following immediately after the current end of the scene.  
The year is 2018  
Enter Beatrice and, soon after, Innogen.

_Inno._ It isn’t healthy, you know—letting them get to you like that.

_Beatr._ Them?

_Inno._ Him. Them. I’m not sure if the problem is general or specific.

_Beatr._ I don’t know what you’re talking about.

_Inno._ Beatrice, you’re one of the smartest women I know. You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you.

_Beatr._ We both know you weren’t really paying attention out there. Your thoughts were elsewhere, as always, so don’t pretend to understand what’s going on.

_Inno._ I overheard your conversation with Benedick.

_Beatr._ There was nothing secret about it. Our new guests may be full of their latest victory, but at its heart it was nothing more than a power struggle, with innocents dragged into the fray. When I fight it’s on my own terms and I avoid collateral damage.

_Inno._ Fewer bodies to eat that way, I imagine. Honestly, Beatrice, I can’t decide if you’re driven by masochism or self-loathing. What do you get out of provoking him?

_Beatr._ It would only be masochism if I didn’t usually win. Perhaps I take a sadistic delight in it?

_Inno._ You don’t seem delighted. You didn’t look delighted when he walked away.

_Beatr._ It’s complicated.

_Inno._ Everything is.

_Beatr._ You seem to manage… but since we’re examining our motives: why do you put up with him suggesting such things?

_Inno._ Him?

_Beatr._ Don’t play dumb, Aunt. If I’m smart, it comes from your sister.

_Inno._ It’s complicated.

_Beatr._ Yes, I’ve heard that everything is. And?

_Inno._ And... Hero knows none of it. I’ll tell her when the time is right, but not yet.

_Beatr._ If it doesn’t affect her directly, I won’t say a word.

_Inno._ Alright. I trust your word. I know your uncle’s jokes are... they’re not funny, but they seem to keep things balanced between us.

_Beatr._ He acts like you don’t exist, or else he suggests that you’d cheat on him if the right man came along! How is that balanced?

_Inno._ Beatrice, calm down.

_Beatr._ No! I love him as my uncle, but why do you put up with him? You’re like the wife in some old fashioned novel, seen but not heard.

_Inno._ Stop it. You don’t understand. It’s him who puts up with me. I hurt him, badly. It took both of us a long time to decide not to think of it as cheating. Sometimes he needs his little jokes.

_Beatr._ Not to think of it as cheating? Are you saying that you both sleep around?

_Inno._ No. He has his life and I have mine. Mine involves someone else. His could, but it doesn’t. There are other things he cares about more. It’s not easy but we manage.

_Beatr._ Why?

_Inno._ Everyone acts as if there’s no stigma to divorce, as though feminism’s fixed everything, but it’s not true; particularly when it happens to someone whose name is in the press. He’s the governor. I’m the governor’s wife.

_Beatr._ He seems so relaxed about it, though. How can he joke like that?

_Inno._ Because it amuses and comforts him, in some strange way. He knows without doubt that I’ve no desire to sleep with another man. Leonato has his place in my life, and I have mine in his. We’ve made peace with our choices, and Stephanie is no threat to them.

_Beatr._ Stephanie? You spend so much time with her but I never thought there was anything…

_Inno._ Good. Beatrice, you can’t tell anyone. Gossip would ruin him.

_Beatr._ So why are you telling me?

_Inno._ Partly because I don’t want you to be angry at your uncle. He’s a good man. I hurt him, but he’s never been anything less than a caring father to Hero. He’s never pushed me in the hope of having a son. He treats me decently.

_Beatr._ He treats you like you’re not here. But then, you often seem like you’re not. I suppose that’s why he fills the place with guests.

_Inno._ No, I don’t think it’s that. He enjoys his status. He loves the opportunity to be gracious and grand. He’s an extrovert. And, socially, he prefers the company of men.

_Beatr._ Socially? Not a man’s man? Not like some men.

_Inno._ And this is the other reason for telling you all of this. What’s going on with Benedick?

_Beatr._ If you heard our conversation then you know that I feel nothing but scorn. It’s easily done. He’s impressive, though only in his ability to inspire contempt.

_Inno._ Do you even see how he affects you? Do you know why he makes you so mad?

_Beatr._ Madness follows him everywhere. He’s a scientific wonder: a pathogen and its vector in one. Benedick, the only known cause of contagious insanity! If I were a better person I’d feel more sorry for those poor young men who apparently have no immunity. Fortunately their suffering will only ever last a little while. The disease is self-limiting. Its attention wanders.

_Inno._ Earlier you said it was difficult to cure. But this is what really bothers you, yes? That he has these dalliances… oh, god, that makes me sound like my mother. But really, Beatrice, he’s single, so why shouldn’t he? Or is it that they’re mostly men?

_Beatr._ It isn’t anything. I don’t care. He scatters his affection in the wind and then spends a while wherever it lands. Any who put up with him deserve him.

_Inno._ Deserving or not, if we’re wise we try for the best, but make the best of what we get.

_Beatr._ Like you have? And what’s best for Stephanie?

_Inno._ Beatrice, don’t lash out. It’s a habit you’ve had since you were young. I told you these things because you’re an adult, and because I hoped they’d help you understand that love doesn’t always look the way it does in the classics. It’s both less dramatic and more complicated than that.

_Beatr._ I’m sorry. You’re right. I didn’t mean to be cruel. I swear sometimes my words precede my thoughts, even though it’s not technically possible.

_Inno._ You didn’t hurt me, darling. But Steph isn’t some timid creature standing on the sidelines, you know. Our arrangement works for her, as well. People have complicated needs.

Perhaps if you spoke honestly with Benedick, you might come to understand each other better.

_Beatr._ There’s nothing to understand. With Benedick, beneath the flashy wit and irreverence, there’s just nothing.


End file.
